Five Years To Live
He had five years to live
and didn't know it.
Five years to live.
Five years to die.
He had five years to love,
to walk alone and cry,
to blaze a trail
and scream goodbye.
He had five years to live;
he thought forever.
The clock was a-rolling
like a die,
and the 'bones were a-humming
in his ballroom, but he didn't hear
the fuse give him
five years left alive.
And the rain kept on coming
but didn't feel wet
he wasn't there, any more
in those glitter-lit streets
yet the posters of leaves
in their fragments showed his name
though the red ink now wept
into pink
He had five years to build
up a heaven
but didn't see the staircase
ahead;
but we're all on that infinite
stair, somewhere
leaving a mark
on a tread.